The Review
Jaime Pesaque opened the original Mayta in Lima's Miraflores district in 2009 and spent the next decade turning it into a South American institution — a restaurant named the World's Best at the 2022 World Culinary Awards, with Pesaque ranked among Latin America's top ten chefs by the continent's 50 Best list. The Dubai outpost, which opened on the third floor of the Capital Club in DIFC, is his first Gulf expansion, brought to the city by Ginza Hospitality (the group behind Jean-Georges at the Four Seasons).
The room is smaller than you expect — a contained 120 seats across a main dining space, a private ceviche bar, and a cocktail lounge — and more intimate than a restaurant of this pedigree usually manages. Aubergine and crimson velvet upholstery, dim amber lighting, Peruvian ceramic artefacts mounted along one wall, a ceviche counter in burnished brass. It is not loud, not showy, not trying to impress you on arrival. It is playing a longer game.
The menu runs across four movements: raw (ceviches, tiraditos, causas), grilled (anticuchos over Peruvian charcoal), hot kitchen (aji de gallina, seco de cordero), and pastry (the purple-corn mazamorra with manjar blanco is the unexpected star). Pesaque's signature is a respect for ingredient provenance that borders on obsession — he flies in Peruvian aji amarillo, rocoto, and chincho because the substitutes available in Dubai, however good, will not carry the same notes. The ceviche is assembled to order at the counter, which is the seat to request if you are eating solo or as a couple.
Cocktails are driven by Peruvian grape — pisco, of course, and the best pisco sour in Dubai is made here — with a short, considered wine list that includes Argentinian Malbec, Chilean Carménère, and an unusually strong Uruguayan section. Dinner with drinks lands between AED 600 and AED 1,000 per person, which places Mayta in DIFC's upper bracket without crossing into the Atlantis-scale pricing. For a restaurant with this level of international accolade working quietly inside a members' club, it remains one of the least-known luxury tables in the city — which is exactly the way its regulars prefer it.
Best for Close a Deal
Mayta sits inside Capital Club, DIFC's oldest and most prestigious private members' venue, which means the address itself carries weight with counterparties who understand what that building is. The restaurant is accessible to non-members by reservation, but the overall atmosphere is genteel, hushed, and unhurried — exactly what a serious conversation requires. The booths in the back of the main room are acoustically separated; the private ceviche bar seats up to eight for a discreet business lunch that will not be interrupted by wedding anniversaries at the next table. Peruvian cuisine is sophisticated and non-triangulating — no guest objects to ceviche — and the wine list is deep enough to match any palate. For lawyers and bankers from the towers below, Mayta is a ten-minute lift ride to a different continent.
Signature Dishes
The corvina ceviche with leche de tigre, red onion, sweet potato, and Peruvian corn is the foundational dish — order it first, and judge the kitchen by it. The scallop tiradito with aji amarillo and passion fruit is lighter and brighter. Among the anticuchos, the wagyu with chalaca salsa is a house favourite. The aji de gallina — slow-cooked chicken in a creamy aji amarillo sauce — is the dish Pesaque cites as his grandmother's, and it has been on the menu in some form for fifteen years. For dessert, request the mazamorra morada with tres leches ice cream. A Pisco Sour to start and a Capitán (pisco and vermouth) to close.
What to Know Before You Go
Capital Club is located in Gate Village Building 3, DIFC — a three-minute walk from the DIFC metro station and adjacent to most of DIFC's primary office towers. Valet parking is provided at the Gate Village entrance. Dress code is smart casual with closed shoes — no shorts or beachwear, as the host building is a members' club. Reservations are essential, and non-members must book ahead by phone or through the restaurant website rather than walking in. Two to four days' notice is standard; weekend evenings fill faster. The private ceviche bar and a small PDR are available for parties of six to fourteen on request. The team handles dietary restrictions and speaks fluent English and Spanish.
Also in Dubai, see COYA Dubai for beachside Peruvian at Four Seasons, La Mar by Gastón Acurio for the Mandarin Oriental flagship, and La Petite Maison for the other sophisticated DIFC lunch institution. For all Close a Deal restaurants globally, see our dedicated guide. Explore more in our Dubai dining editorial.